How to transfer skills and knowledge
- Gandhi: fan of life-long learning
Organisations and their people need to learn faster than the environment changes. As Mahatma Gandhi said: ‘Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.’
One route to skills transfer should be from external staff, such as consultants and interim managers, to internal staff. But how often does transfer actually take place?
It’s patchy. Frequently both the consultants and the clients are driven by short term goals, with skills transfer seen as diverting effort from project completion, and more immediate improvements.
But without skill transfer, staff may lack the capability and confidence to sustain these improvements. This can result in a paradox: there is too little time to get it right first go, but always time to do it again. What a waste. No wonder employees become demotivated!
I build skill transfer into my work. My approach is to identify gaps in current skills and competencies, and identify opportunities to transfer skills while getting the work done.
Informal teamwork is best. In recent assignments, I have created communication champions, change co-ordinators, special projects and informal workshops to share experience, as well as mentoring and creating opportunities to practice. (Practical examples of each are here.)
I find that people remember what they do, not what they are told, that practice makes perfect and ‘use it or lose it’ often applies. I also find that sharing my own mistakes (mostly made only once and from some 200 assignments) helps others avoid them.
Clients frequently tell me they are surprised by what their staff can achieve. And I am often surprised by what we can achieve together.
Picture by jimbowen0306
[...] For example: Do you have, or can you transfer skills and knowledge? [...]
Portfolio muddle? Will your projects deliver your goals? « Mike Barnato
November 27, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Good points Mike – for me it hinges on whether the external person is doing consultancy ‘to’ or ‘with’ the client. My aim – as yours I suspect – is always to do as little as possible so that the client is helped to do more – and thereby acquire new skills and learn.
Jon Harvey
December 30, 2009 at 8:20 am
Thanks Jon.
We have had a subsequent discussion, off line, about consulting and interim management and the differences between them.
Mike Barnato
January 13, 2010 at 4:05 pm
So Mike, what would your approach be if your client was distraught about the standard of written English amongst their 20-30 year old staff. Emails and reports going out inaccurate, sometimes almost incomprehensible? I am interested by what you say, and would like an example of how it works in practice.
Jane Penson
January 8, 2010 at 10:26 am
Thanks Jane. Interesting question.
You asked for an example of skill transfer in practice. I will do a new post on skill transfer in practice. Poor written skills were a problem when I was with a large consulting, many years ago.
I always tried to agree structure and see early drafts to avoid having to rewrite stuff.
The problem sounds much worse now. What with text speak and email exhaustion. And the consequences are greater in terms of wasted partner time, client dissatisfaction and potential liability.
So what is to be done? When recruiting staff for clients, I always consider using numerical and literacy tests. The skill transfer stuff can help; but it can only be applied to one person or a small group. For the rest it’s over to you!
Mike Barnato
January 13, 2010 at 4:03 pm
[...] previously wrote about the skill transfer from external consultants. And how it’s often neglected. I mentioned some approaches. Here, in response to a request, [...]
Skill transfer in practice « Mike Barnato
January 20, 2010 at 3:52 pm
[...] Learning. We learn by doing and practicing. So let a junior member of your project team write the first draft report. Be clear if you expect consultants to transfer skills. [...]
What can we learn from Lampard’s penalties? « Mike Barnato
March 15, 2010 at 9:36 am